Note 15 — Chapter II · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
Reading edition
We have many instances of trees which talk. The mango tree shows the hero how the magic bird is to be cut out of it; the heroine is blessed and aided by the plantain tree, cotton tree, and sweet basil; she is rewarded by a plum and fig tree for services rendered to them.15 In one of the Kashmîr tales the tree informs the hero of the safety of his wife. So, in Grimm’s tale of the “Lucky Spinner,” the tree speaks when the man is about to cut it down.16